


Closure

by HM (HyperMint)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Female Character of Color, Gen, Historical Roleplay, Letters, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Roleplaying Character, Secret Santa, Trope Subversion/Inversion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:29:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28349913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperMint/pseuds/HM
Summary: What do you get your best friend, the person you know inside out?What do you get your lover, the person whose secrets you hold close to your heart?For Arthur, whose best friend and lover are one in the same, it's not as easy as you think it is.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Kudos: 1





	Closure

**Author's Note:**

> No characters are mine - not even the cameos. 😉
> 
> AN: I did not plan very well for this story at all. 😅
> 
> This chapter is the shortest because I didn't know how to end it, but I also didn't have much time to do what I wanted before the Archive deletes it. 
> 
> If you notice one of the tags, I'm messing with tropes. Just thought I'd let you know. 
> 
> There were a few ideas that kind of came together for this. One of them was that I absolutely loved school - one of the minority, I'm sure - and one of the things that sticks out to me is the idea that school impacts your life even after you graduate. All of us has to have had - or is having now - that one assignment that just sticks with you forever. 
> 
> Like one teacher having you write letters to yourselves and you open the mailbox one day years later and there it is.
> 
> Or writing a speech about something that you are passionate about and you amaze yourself at how awesome you were in that moment.
> 
> Or ... when you are tasked with writing a letter or a journal entry in a character's mindset, from a character's point of view.

It was Christmas Eve and Arthur _still_ didn't know what to do.

Granted, it was before Noon but the panic over not having anything for Merlin couldn't be reasoned with.

They'd only been dating for six months - having caught each other's attention long before that - and that was more or less the only reason Arthur wasn't planning an elaborate marriage proposal (yet).

After having been burned before, he figured he still had another year and a half before he could safely ask.

Which also allowed him to feel out Merlin's thoughts on marriage.

But that was a problem for Future Arthur, in the meantime he needed something _now_.

Merlin - even before they started dating - was one of those people who truly didn't want much in life. There was a reason Arthur's favorite nickname for him was 'Peasant'. Oh, not that there was anything wrong with being content with what you had.

Certainly since Merlin had come into his life, Arthur didn't work as much or go out with others as often preferring to spend time with Merlin and be in his company.

It was just frustrating as hell when Arthur had to give him something.

Merlin never needed anything and that was just going to be that.

Arthur didn't have the excuse of little impersonal things after two plus years of friendship, but he kind of also knew that Merlin would be happy accepting those impersonal things simply because it was Arthur giving them to him. 

Arthur wanted to give him something meaningful, his pride wouldn't allow anything less.

Since Gwen was the only one out of their group who'd known Merlin the longest, Arthur had had the idea to go to her for advice, but the Secret Santa party they'd agreed to take part in seemed to have taken her over. 

Arthur wasn't used to seeing the normally bubbly girl ... not bubbly, but he was confident that she'd work it out with plenty of time to spare.

Although, with the way she was acting, he had half a mind to tell her to propose to Lance already since everyone knew it would happen one day and she'd drawn her boyfriend's name last year.

He still didn't know why she'd not used the opportunity to do so other than some misguided attempt to allow Lance the honor, but if this went on much longer Arthur was going to be the one to propose to the both of them just to put an end to this nonsense.

Honestly, drawing Lance's name should _not_ be worth all this stress.

He already worshipped the ground she walked on; he would likely accept anything as a priceless treasure if it came from her.

On the other hand, maybe she'd decided to make it two separate presents instead of just a combination one and he supposed he could understand her dilemma. He himself was on a quest to find the Perfect Boyfriend Christmas Present, Secret Santa or no Secret Santa so he really couldn't judge.

Regardless, he had little more than twenty four hours and still had nothing.

"It's horrible," he sighed to Lance as the blond made his way back to his apartment with an early lunch from the place down the street. "He's going to dump me when he finds out that one whole year of beating my head against a wall wasn't enough time to figure out what to get him for Christmas."

 _'Yeah, right, mate,"_ Lance laughed in his ear. _"I think that ice show in the States had him considering marriage even before you asked him out! I'm sure doing that meet and greet with Katsuki and Nikiforov went a long way in your romantic endeavours."_

Yeahhh...

The ice show.

The one that Arthur had originally planned to ask Merlin out with so they could finally move past the 'friendship' stage.

And they'd met skaters Katsuki and Nikiforov alright.

Arthur had never been so pathetically grateful to his Uni self for going with the Japanese language course than he'd been then, talking Katsuki through an anxiety attack in a hotel loo whilst simultaneously fighting his own panic at having lost Merlin.

Once the both of them had calmed down enough to remember English, Arthur had pretty much laughed in the man's face when he heard that Nikiforov had run away from him because how _else_ was Katsuki supposed to explain his lover's disappearance?

Luckily, Katsuki had similarly found it rather humorous when Arthur reminded him of the lengths Nikiforov would go to for him had he but wished it and the both of them had themselves a good laughing fit that had done wonders for their moods.

Then Arthur remembered Merlin was the one who'd wanted to meet Katsuki in the first place and they'd gathered up some of the other skaters to help search for them.

Hours later, it came out that Merlin had gotten turned around and ended up in the wrong hotel, stepping into an elevator with Nikiforov minutes before the power system failed in that part of the building. By the time anyone thought to actually check the elevators, it had been closing in on midnight and one or both of them had gone through a claustrophobic meltdown though they'd both looked exhausted enough that Arthur hadn't been able to tell who'd done the breaking down because of the claustrophobia and who'd done the breaking down in response to it.

He never did figure that out, though he strongly suspected both kept in touch afterwards.

Not like he was hiding his own check-ins with Katsuki. Merlin was just never around to see him going through the younger man's available posts on social media.

_Really._

And so what if he kept an eye on an athlete, anyway? People did it all the time!

It wasn't anything like that time he ran across a small kitten or when he helped a young child who'd gotten lost in the park or the teen who'd fallen off her skateboard. 

It didn't mean anything when he gave the young skateboarder the small kitten in apology for causing her minor injuries or doing some free babysitting when he had the time, so it most certainly didn't mean anything for him to keep an eye on Katsuki every now and again.

The man was an international celebrity, it was unavoidable.

... and that was his story just in case Merlin did find out.

Anyway.

"But I'm still his boyfriend," he argued. "I'm pretty sure people have broken up for less."

Lance was still laughing when Arthur hung up on him. 

* **


End file.
